24 ❙ EggIndustry
Natural hen
behaviors
lead to better
performance
John Brunnquell, of free-range
egg company Egg Innovations,
offers tips on how to stimulate
birds for better performance.
BY AUSTIN ALONZO
Just like people, chickens need to be challenged a little
to perform at their best.
That's what John Brunnquell, president and founder
of Warsaw, Indiana, free-range egg producer Egg
Innovations told the Organic Egg Farmers of America
Symposium on March 14. The event took place in St.
Paul, Minnesota, in conjunction with the Midwest
Poultry Federation Convention. Brunnquell is the
president of the farming association.
John Brunnquell, president and founder of Egg
Innovations, speaks to Organic Egg Farmers of
America members and allies on March 14 in St.
Paul, Minnesota.
While the growing movement toward producing
cage-free, free-range and organic eggs is relatively
new, the chicken's desire to express natural behaviors is not. Hens inherently want to dust bathe,
perch, forage, scratch and socialize, and when they
get to, good things happen, Brunnquell said. Egg
Innovation's birds have access to pastures yearround and, because of it - along with experienced
management - the birds perform better and experience lower mortality than their breed standards.
Brunnquell said the natural behaviors help release
the genetic potential of the bird to lay more eggs. It
relates to allostasis, or the concept that putting a consistent amount of limited stress on an animal can be
beneficial to its health. He compared it to how regular,
moderate exercise can benefit people's overall health.
The birds, he said, need only about two hours a
day to lay their eggs, eat, drink and defecate, meaning
they have 14 other daylight hours with nothing to do.
Chickens are naturally curious and they want to go
outside, or at least be engaged inside the house. When
they are allowed to express their natural behaviors,
negative behaviors like feather pecking and cannibalism can be reduced, he said.
www.WATTAgNet.com ❙ May 2017
teptong | BigStockPhoto.com
Allostasis

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